Help.Rendering crashes computer

safari_tim wrote on 10/1/2003, 12:29 AM
I have VF2.0c build 125. It has worked fine in the past.

I tried to render a short video, size does not matter, and it freezes the PC after about 4 minutes of rendering.

I defraged the computer but that did not help. I have a P4 1.6g with 512 ddr and an 80g 7200 rpm harddrive.

Any ideas to help diagnose?

Thanks

Also, I have been off this board for several months and did not know Sony bought SF's product line. Is the MovieStudio 3.0 really just Videofactory 3.0? Worth the $29 upgrade? Does it work basicly the same as VF?

-Tim

Comments

JohnnyRoy wrote on 10/1/2003, 4:23 AM
It’s odd that it freezes at around 4 minutes. Are you rendering to DV or uncompressed? I wonder if you are hitting some sort of filesize limit at that point. Is the file close to 4GB? It’s very strange if it use to work. My guess is that there must be some software that you loaded between the time that it worked and now that is causing it to fail.

As for your other questions:

> Is the MovieStudio 3.0 really just Videofactory 3.0?

Yes, it’s the next generation of VideoFactory 2.

> Worth the $29 upgrade?

Absolutely, and without a doubt. It adds lots more functions that were only available in Vegas like a third video track, new FX like Chromakey, Border, Black Restore, Deform, Lens Flare, Light Rays, Linear Blur, Mirror, Quick Blur, Radial Blur, and Threshold. New transitions like Page Peel, Page Roll, & Venetian Blinds. It also comes with the MPEG2 plugin.

How many times have you wished you have just one more video track so you could do a picture-in-picture with a title overlay? Now you can. I think it’s well worth the $29. It also comes with MyDVD 4.5 DVD authoring software. I think it’s a great deal.

> Does it work basicly the same as VF?

Yup, same familiar interface, no additional learning curve. Just new features. I think the upgrade is a no-brainer. For the cost of just the MPEG2 plugin for VF2, you’re getting that and a whole lot more.

~jr
IanG wrote on 10/1/2003, 8:38 AM
Start
>How many times have you wished you have just one more video track
And then you got it
GOTO Start

Ian G.
Former user wrote on 10/1/2003, 9:54 AM
Are you possibly having a heat problem with the CPU?

Dave T2
SonySCS wrote on 10/1/2003, 11:17 AM
Dave T2 sounds on to something. I searched for rendering, freeze, lock, &c... and this thread looks promising:
http://mediasoftware.sonypictures.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?ForumID=4&MessageID=188783. Especially the answer from Dennis.
Did you change your hardware?

-Suzan
safari_tim wrote on 10/1/2003, 11:26 AM
Thanks for the input. It is not always at the same time when it freezes the computer. I have tried a different shorter video and it does the same thing after a few minutes. I am rendering a mpeg 1 for a VCD.

I think it must be a software conflict as well but I have no idea where to start looking. I have windows XP Pro, if that matters and it has windows movie maker which I never used. Could that be a conflict? I cannot figure out how to remove it.

I tried defraging the harddrive and setting them to DMA if available. Beyond that I'm stuck.

I will order the sony upgrade, but I have a good size project I need to render with VF now.

Will the sony product read the vf files?

-Tim
safari_tim wrote on 10/1/2003, 11:28 AM
No changes in hardware.

I have an official Intel CPU with the official Intel fan and never had a problem otherwise. No overclocking or any modifications.


Former user wrote on 10/1/2003, 11:57 AM
If you can monitor your MB temperature, I would do that and see what happens.

Otherwise, open the side of the computer case, and see if it freezes while rendering. If it does then it may not be heat, but if it doesn't, you might consider adding a fan.
laz wrote on 10/2/2003, 3:02 AM
If it's not hardware related it may be also worth running a system file check. In w2k (not sure about xp) it's Start, Run, type cmd and press enter.

In the command window, at the C:> prompt, type:

sfc /scannow

Plus an error-check on hd's. There's restore on xp also, but this doesn't always work.
JohnnyRoy wrote on 10/2/2003, 6:53 AM
I would suspect it may be the operating temperature also. I think running with the case open is worth a shot. That will at least rule that out.

~jr
safari_tim wrote on 10/2/2003, 10:40 PM
Update.

I was able to render the same vf file to an AVI it turned out to be about 2.6g. But not an mpeg 1 or windows media file.

I tried uninstalling and reinstalling no help.

-Tim
shiner wrote on 10/3/2003, 11:08 AM

Just wanted to second the advice about temperatures. I had similar problems with rendering - machine would hang after a variable length of time. I installed Motherboard Monitor to keep an eye on the temperatures and the CPU was really running hot (admittedly I'm running an AMD CPU which runs hotter than Intel) I opened the case to get some extra ventilation and that fixed the problem.

Worth a shot.
SonySCS wrote on 10/6/2003, 2:26 PM
Did this ever work? My only idea now is e-mail Tech Support and see what they say.

-Suzan

safari_tim wrote on 10/7/2003, 10:22 PM
Yes. I used it all the time.

I have been working with tech support but no luck so far. They had me uninstal it and delete the sonic foundry directories, and reinstal windows media player. But still no luck.

I just got Movie Studio 3 today and installed it. Same lock up problem when I try and render mpeg 1.

I also defragged, installed directx 9, and it still does not work....
safari_tim wrote on 10/7/2003, 10:58 PM
BTW I forgot to mention. I did try it with the lid off the computer and it still froze...

Thanks for the idea though.
laz wrote on 10/8/2003, 3:06 AM
I seem to recall a similar prob on another forum a while back. The solution was to upgrade the chip. Maybe worth a try.
IanG wrote on 10/8/2003, 6:47 AM
You've already said there's no change to the h/w, but have you added any new s/w? Something that could be looking for particular file types like mpg but not avi? <SWAG warning!!> Does movie maker have some sort of cataloging option that's looking for mpegs? I don't know if VF / MS will allow this, but you could try outputting your mpeg with some arbitrary file type. Or you could try putting an avi through TMPGEnc and see if that's able to render ok.

Have a look at the file associations under "My Computer" and see if they look reasonable.

Do you have AV s/w running? It might be worth disabling it for a while.

Ian G.
IanG wrote on 10/8/2003, 2:42 PM
> I don't know if VF / MS will allow this, but you could try outputting your mpeg with some arbitrary file type.
I do now - they don't!

Ian G.
SonyTSW wrote on 10/8/2003, 10:37 PM
Tim,
Here's some other things you might want check:

1. Look at your IRQ assignments, are there devices sharing the same IRQ that might be the cause of some conflicts? Particularly look at what other devices the video card may be sharing an IRQ with.

2. Do you have any USB devices attached to your computer (smart media readers, etc.)? These have been known to cause frames to be dropped during video capture (search for threads on this topic in the Vegas forum). Shouldn't cause issues with rendering though you never know.

3. Do you have an external FireWire hard drive? There also have been problems mentioned with these drives (Vegas forum).

4. Disable 1394 Networking (Start | Settings | Network Connection in WinXP Pro). You probably don't need this anyway, WinXP comes with it enabled by default.

5. Can you play the video in its entirety from the timeline just fine? This could reveal a corrupted media file problem. Since you rendered to AVI successfully it doesn't seem like this is the problem.

6. Are you rendering to the VCD PAL template in MPEG-1? Another user has reported a problem with this on the Vegas forum: http://mediasoftware.sonypictures.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?ForumID=4&MessageID=159222

safari_tim wrote on 10/8/2003, 11:37 PM
Well..... you guys were right. It's on overheating issue.

I did try to render with the lid off the PC and it did not work. This time, I took a regular household fan, and aimed it right into the open computer.

The render went right thorugh fine. No problems, nothing different other than the fan.

On further inspection my CPU's heatsink is full of dust. Caked on more like it.

Tomorrow I am going to give it a good blowing out with my air compressor. I may add heatsink compound to the chip as well.

Thanks for the help. I hope I can fix it with what I mentioned. I hope the CPU chip is not going bad...
SonySCS wrote on 10/9/2003, 11:27 AM
Thanks for telliing us -- I'm glad you found the problem and I hope cleaning the heat sink works.
-Suzan
safari_tim wrote on 10/9/2003, 10:18 PM
OK, I took the PC apart. Removed the heatsink and broke the clips that hold it to the mother board :-( !!!

I cleaned the top of the CPU and the bottom of the heatsink. It had some black stuff that I think helps transfer the heat but it looked pretty worn.

I then put on heatsink compound I got from radio shack. Its a white paste and comes in a blue/white tube.

I used nylon tie straps to hold the heatsink back in place. Blew the whole case out with an air compressor and got all the dust out.

For good measure, I added a slot fan that goes in an empty pci slot and expels the heat from the box.

So far been rendering a way without any more lock ups.

Happy again...
Former user wrote on 10/13/2003, 9:06 AM
Glad it is working. Heat can be a real killer.

Dave T2